alongside
Americanadverb
preposition
-
beside; by the side of.
The dog ran alongside me all the way.
-
Informal. alongside of, compared with.
Alongside of his brother, he is no student at all.
preposition
adverb
Etymology
Origin of alongside
Explanation
Use the adverb alongside when two things are right next to each other, like a boat and a dock or a hunter and her loyal dog. If you pull up alongside your friend's car in a parking lot, it means that you've parked directly beside it. Alongside can also imply cooperation, as when a baker's assistant works alongside him, kneading dough and wiping flour off the counter. Alongside was once a phrase, either "along side" or "along the side," both primarily used in a nautical sense, to talk about boats. In the 1700s it became a single word.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The announcement comes alongside the Royal Household publishing its annual financial report.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
Treasury yields fell in Asian trade alongside lower oil prices even as Thursday’s PCE data signaled inflationary pressures.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
Graduate students Naoyuki Harada, Hayato Shoyama, and Nutnicha Boonmong worked alongside Sasaki and then-Assistant Professor Kiichi Mizukami of Kyushu University's Faculty of Engineering to consolidate years of research into a final publication.
From Science Daily • Jun. 26, 2026
The former home of the 36-year-old actress’s family is located in the tony community of Palisades, N.Y., where Panettiere was raised alongside her brother, Jansen, who died at the age of 28 in early 2023.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 26, 2026
They had decided to spend the weekend alongside the Green River.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
